Chrysalis Publications, LLC

July 18, 2009

Connections

It’s been a busy summer. Most of my writing has been used at my Laurel Community Volunteer Examiner web page for Examiner.com. Since mid-June, I’ve been on the road every week, as I visit health care providers in Howard County, Maryland, and leave them with copies of the brand new resource brochure I helped create for the NAMI Howard County folks. [The brochure will also be available at their web site.] I also burn rubber for patients who use the American Cancer Society’s Road to Recovery service. Every other month, I help create an evening meal for the hungry at Elizabeth House. Once a month, I make a food donation delivery to Elizabeth House from LongHorn Steakhouse.  Quiet hours at home [or in the waiting room at a cancer treatment center], I continue to crochet hats and scarves for distribution to the homeless this winter.

american-red-crossinovaJuly 27, I’ll be donating blood again. According to the American Red Cross blood donor services, only 30% of first-time donors donate blood again. With a high demand for blood, the regular commitment of a few donors plays an important role in providing the precious gift of life. I’m first on the list when the Inova Blood Donor Service folks park their mobile unit next to the Laurel Library.

Elizabeth House, Laurel, MD

Elizabeth House, 308 Gorman Avenue, Laurel, MD

July 15, I joined the Fish/Elizabeth House Board of Trustees. I’ve donned the fund raiser hat and I’m tasked with helping fine tune an already well-run part of this all-volunteer non-profit organization. With a 33% increase in regular clients – requesting groceries, housing/utility assistance and hot meals – I’m more than happy to help this fine group of people maintain and improve their ability to help where help is greatly needed.

Mike and Carol on Patuxent River, October 2008

Mike and Carol on Patuxent River, October 2008

Free time, this  summer!? When I have time to enjoy either quiet time by myself or with Mike, kayaking and keeping up correspondence with family and friends head the list!

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June 11, 2009

Laurel resident hopes online book sales soar

I was recently interviewed for a profile article about me and my novel, Flying Wires. Click here for a JPEG of Timmy Gelles’ article in the 11 June 2009 issue of The Gazette or here for a link to the online version. Only recently, have I had the time to do some marketing of Flying Wires and I’m quite pleased that this opportunity came along.

In the meantime, my Examiner.com articles and my work for NAMI Howard County are keeping me quite busy. Now that the first phase of the NAMI contract is complete, I will soon be working about 10 hours per week for the next twelve months on the second phase.

To purchase the PDF version of Flying Wires, click here. To purchase the Kindle version – which is also downloadable to an iPhone and iPod Touch – click here.

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May 2, 2009

It’s been a week

National Alliance on Mental Illness

National Alliance on Mental Illness

Not much time to catch my breath and post this week. Last Sunday, we got a call from family and immediately began making plans to drive south Monday afternoon. Mike had to work and I had a meeting in the NAMI Howard County offices at 12:30 p.m. The half-hour meeting gave me the opportunity to sign my contract with NAMI, meet the other contractor that I’ll be working with and discuss the “game plan” for the next few weeks. While I work on the redesign of their information brochure for individuals with mental illness and their families, my team mate will be putting together a database of health care providers in Howard County, Maryland. By the time we meet again in a couple weeks, we should be through phase I of the project.

Monday afternoon, I let local friends know we were leaving town. When Mike got off work, we loaded up the car, had dinner and left town. We spent most of Tuesday with family and although a short trip, we’re glad we went. Fortunately, things have improved some during the week. The rest of the week was catch up on my Examiner.com column and work on a handout for a women’s retreat I’ll be attending next weekend. Today, Mike and I spent the morning on the University of Maryland campus in College Park, Maryland. We walked in the NAMIWalk for the Mind of America – the culmination of an annual fundraising effort to support the wonderful NAMI programs for individuals with mental illness and their families. Now it’s time to hit the hay. After church tomorrow, it’s back to work on the NAMI brochure.

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April 6, 2009

Carol is on Facebook and Twitter

For additional company and personal posts and links to information, please visit Carol Plotnick at Facebook and Twitter.

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March 27, 2009

CASA-Making a difference

In researching articles for my Laurel Community Volunteer Examiner column, I came across a piece written by Michael Piraino, CEO of the National CASA [Court Appointed Special Advocates] that I want to share with you. CASA volunteers are the connection between abused and neglected children and the court system. With hard economic times effecting so many areas of our society, it’s no wonder the need has grown for these children as well. Read more.

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March 22, 2009

Road to …

Road to Recovery

Road to Recovery

There’s a growing need for volunteer drivers for the American Cancer Society’s Road to Recovery program. I’ve been a Road to Recovery volunteer for almost a year. For more information about this program and a snapshot of my own personal experience as a R2R driver read “Road to…” Click to locate your local American Cancer Society office.

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